I leave mine on "auto." Then again, mine is behind my screen wall, so it isn't real convenient to turn it on and off.

It isn't like being in "auto" mode is using full power or anything. It IS "leaching" a little bit of juice to keep just enough electronics on to detect a signal and to light up the little LED, but that it is. It isn't like leaving an EP350 on all of the time is sucking up 300 watts of power when idle.

I wonder how much power is used though when the sub is in the "sleep mode" part of the auto-on setting? I actually have a little box that I can plug into the wall to check all sorts of electricity things, but just need to do it some time when my curiosity is greater than my laziness to do it.

There was a short time when the EP350s had auto. If you have a v1, that's probably an AB amp, which means it is using a not-insignificant amount of power when it's turned on. That said, the best way to find out how much is to get a kill-a-watt meter and plug the sub into that. Then you'll know.

For me it's more about component preservation, not minuscule electricity savings.

Actually, leaving it on will allow the components last longer. This is primarily due to less heat cycles. Heat cycles is what kills solder joints. In the Navy we left the electronics on all of the time. So, on the sub i was on.. Most of the electronics were close to 20 years old....

Actually, leaving it on will allow the components last longer. This is primarily due to less heat cycles. Heat cycles is what kills solder joints. In the Navy we left the electronics on all of the time. So, on the sub i was on.. Most of the electronics were close to 20 years old....

This is why I'm back and forth on this. I've historically left my subs on, but when I was also leaving my main amp on, a part decided to go wonky (can't remember what they said it was), but when I told them I was leaving it on 24/7, they said that was a bad idea, and I should be turning it off when not in use. I remember this conversation coming up before, so I explained why I'd been leaving it on, but they still suggested turning it off. Since I use my system every day, that is a lot of cycling of power. I've been turning it off every night since then, but I'm still not sure what's worse for longevity.

I think if you've got good cooling on your electronics (and/or they've got good cooling themselves), then there's no question that leaving them on will make them last longer. The question is, do you feel lucky, punk? how good is the cooling in your AV cabinet/closet/stack?

I'll make sure to have really good cooling when I have all of my equipment in a closet, but for now, I don't have dedicated airflow. However, the equipment is spread out with plenty of open air around each unit. Like around 10 inches above both the receiver and main amp, with no other equipment below, and the shelving is open on all sides.